Children can participate in tapping a maple tree and will learn how to build their own mokuk, a birch bark container in which native peoples transported maple sugar. Making a paper mokuk replica provides a history lesson and discussion about how European settlers learned of the Native Americans’ sugaring culture.

Tree tapping demonstrations will take place at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. in the sugar bush and some visitors will be able to help tap the maple trees.

Visitors will be able to taste maple syrup and sap, smell the aroma around an outside evaporator pan and welcome spring at this educational and fun event. Maple recipes will be available for those wishing to savor the sweetness of the day.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Friends of Hartwick Pines State Park cosponsor this special event, which is free to enter.